This invention relates to hemostatic surgical clip applying apparatus, and more particularly to hemostatic surgical clip applying apparatus in which clips contained in the apparatus are automatically fed one at a time to a clip closing portion of the apparatus as the apparatus is operated.
Surgical clip applying instruments typically have a pair of laterally spaced, relatively movable jaws for receiving a clip to be applied to body tissue and for subsequently closing the clip on the tissue by bringing the jaws together. The jaws are generally closed by either a pliers-type actuator or by a sleeve which reciprocates toward the jaws and cams them closed. In either case, a substantial number of moving parts is required to move the jaws. This contributes significantly to the cost of the instrument. In addition, a heavier and bulkier instrument construction may be required to provide jaw closing members of sufficient strength to transmit relatively large jaw-closing forces from a proximal actuator to the distal jaws. For example, if the jaws close by pliers-like actuation, two relatively heavy members extending the entire length of the instrument are required to transmit the bending moments needed to close the jaws. The large amount of material required in these members not only increases the cost of the instrument, but also tends to make the instrument bulkier, thereby possibly interfering with the operator's view of the jaws during the application of clips. This can be a major disadvantage in delicate surgical procedures.
Instrument cost is an increasingly important consideration because there is a growing demand for surgical instruments, such as clip applicators, which can be economically discarded after use in a single surgical procedure. This completely avoids all difficulty and expense associated with cleaning, sterilizing, and reloading the apparatus for reuse in another surgical procedure.
There is also growing interest in the use of plastic surgical clips, and especially plastic surgical clips of biologically absorbable material. If left in the body after a surgical procedure, plastic clips do not scatter X-rays and thereby degrade the quality of subsequent radiographs the way metal clips may. And biologically absorbable plastic clips are completely absorbed by the body after the clipped tissue heals, thereby avoiding such possible problems as undesirable migration of clips in the body during the months and years following the surgical procedure.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to improve and simplify surgical clip applying apparatus.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide surgical clip applying apparatus which has fixed clip-closing jaws so that most or all of the moving parts otherwise needed for closing the jaws can be eliminated.
It is still another more particular object of this invention to provide surgical clip applying instruments which are especially suitable for applying plastic surgical clips of either absorbable or nonabsorbable material.